Nicholls holds scrimmage; Brown scores a touchdown

With the season opener at Air Force three weeks away, the Nicholls State University football team held its first scrimmage of fall camp Saturday morning at John L. Guidry Stadium.
The Colonels had 75 plays in the controlled scrimmage, with the quarterbacks throwing for five touchdown passes in red zone situations. Junior quarterback Tuskani Figaro also rushed for a touchdown from eight yards out, which was the only blemish in a solid day for the Colonels’ rush defense.
After ranking last in the Southland Conference in rushing yards allowed last season, the Colonels showed tremendous improvement by limiting the offense to 89 yards on 32 carries, averaging just 2.8 yards per carry. Senior quarterback Kalen Henderson had the most yards on the ground, rushing for 32 yards on eight carries.
For the passing game, the Colonels’ four quarterbacks combined for 295 yards passing, completing 22-of-39 passes for a 56 percent clip. Redshirt senior Beaux Hebert was 9-of-15 for 119 yards and two scores but had the team’s lone interception after under-throwing a pass in the middle that was picked off by sophomore safety B.T. Sanders.
Henderson had 80 yards and two touchdowns on 4-of-11 passing, Figaro completed 5-of-6 passes for 50 yards and a touchdown, and redshirt sophomore Dash Duncan had 46 yards on 4-of-7 passing.
With four wideouts on the sidelines due to various injuries, receiving the bulk of the passes were redshirt junior Terry Lucas and Colorado transfer Keenan Canty. Both caught four passes, with Lucas leading with 69 yards and two touchdowns, while Canty had 65 yards and one score.
Central Catholic alum Dontrell Brown and tight end Dorian Durald also hauled in a touchdown each.
For the defense, sophomores Seth Keller and Ronnie Walker combined for 10 tackles with five for loss, including two sacks. The defense totaled seven sacks, all being credited to underclassmen. Redshirt sophomore Chris Lorden and redshirt freshman Geoffrey Hebert each reached the quarterback twice.
In the first session, the defense did not give up the big play, but the offense had seven plays go for more than 10 yards. Receiver Darryl Watson had one of the highlights in the early going, catching a ball five yards downfield before he shook off two defenders and ran for an extra 10 yards.
Before the end of the session, the defense picked up its first turnover of the day when a botched exchange was recovered by Josh Dewey in the backfield.
On the second play of the red zone situations, Figaro rolled to the right from 8 yards out and found Durald in the back of the end zone for the Colonels’ first touchdown.
On the next play, Keller blew up a running play in the back field for one of his four tackles for loss. The play seemed to give the defense a spark as they had two sacks and one tackle for loss in the next eight plays.
In a four-play series with Henderson under center, three of the plays ended up being highlights of the scrimmage.
On the first snap, Henderson tossed his first touchdown, finding Lucas down the right sideline from 22 yards out.
On the third play, the defense picked up another turnover as safety Victor Mattaur forced a fumble with a jarring hit on a running play, and senior Michael Woods pounced on the ball for the defense. On the final play, Henderson threw a perfect ball over the middle to a diving Brown for a touchdown.
Hebert continued the hot streak for the quarterbacks, hitting Canty and Lucas for 26-yard touchdowns in the next series. Figaro rounded out the scoring with his 8-yard run.
In the third-down plays, the defense added two more sacks and capped the day with Sanders’ interception. On the final snap of the scrimmage, Duncan got away from pressure and tossed a shovel pass to freshman T.J. Scott for a 19-yard gain.
The field goal kickers also saw their first live action, combining to go 3-for-7 on the day. Francisco Condado connected from 25 and 26 yards but missed on 29- and 30-yarders. Conner Fryoux made a 43-yarder for his only attempt, while David McKey missed from 38 and Taylor St. Germain was wide left on a 35-yarder.